Vehicles are used to perform various tasks. For example, vehicles often are used in construction to build structures. Such structures may include, for example, a building, a dam, a bridge, a manufacturing facility, a roadway, and other structures. Construction-related tasks performed by vehicles include, for example, loading objects and materials, moving objects and materials from or into a desired position, digging holes and trenches, and other construction-related tasks. Vehicles used to perform construction-related tasks may include, for example, graders, loaders, backhoes, excavators, bulldozers, and other types of vehicles.
A human operator employs psychomotor skills to operate various types of vehicles to perform construction-related tasks. A psychomotor skill is the ability to coordinate muscle movement with perceptual cues to perform a task. For example, psychomotor skills include hand movements coordinated with visual perceptual information from the eyes to perform a task.
An example of a psychomotor task is driving an automobile. In this case, the human driver processes multiple cues or pieces of information and performs specific physical actions. For example, the driver performs the physical task of steering based on the driver's perception of the road, the weather, obstacles, and other cues.
Another example of a psychomotor task is operating a vehicle to perform a construction-related task. For example, to operate a bucket loader an operator manipulates a controller, such as a joystick to elevate a boom and curl a bucket to perform a digging or bucket-filling operation. The operator performs this task based on the operator's perception of the position and orientation of the vehicle, boom, and bucket with respect to the material to be loaded into the bucket and other cues.